


I Seen A Man

by cytheriafalas



Category: SHINee
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 21:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cytheriafalas/pseuds/cytheriafalas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ridiculously inspired by the poem/slam poetry/song "I Seen A Man" as seen on LXD, because I haven't written pure angst for Taemin before. The lyrics/words are approximate, because as far as I have been able to find, there's no official version released and the only one I could find had enough spelling errors to make me question the validity. I'm going to be honest, this might be one of my favorite fics I've written.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Seen A Man

I seen a man with the crack of lightning in his feet  
I seen a man who feels his soul through his souls  
But his mind is not laced tightly  
His spirit is twisted,  
Anchored to the will of his surroundings

I seen a man and he has a gift,  
But beware  
His heart may be callous and his will heels at nothing  
I seen a man with illusionary razor blades cutting further into his attention span  
Unaware of the passing years he has yet to catch up to.

Now he marches into mediocrity with the capacity to be great.  
Only his dreams separate him now.  
Thoughts that fill the air, a tear of split-ends confuses him of his insight  
I seen a man for whom where the fourth wall clouds his thoughts from his everyday persistence;  
When required words try to find one another explore every part of his existence

The existential, experiential, surrealistic, unbound potential wakes him up at night,  
Subconsciously aware of the thoughts that fill the air.  
As death falls upon deaf ears, the color of life turning.  
Blind eyes become the seer of life beyond the sight of mortal fear  
I seen a man

_\--_  
  
I seen a man.

It was late, maybe two or three in the morning when Minho stepped into the studio, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and his eyes half-closed with sleep. Taemin didn’t even look at him, eyes didn’t even flick from his own reflection in the mirror. Minho let himself slide down the back wall of the studio, folding his arms over his knees as he watched Taemin dance.

Normally, Minho loved watching Taemin dance. There was always something beautiful about it, the way his body moved with the music, sometimes in perfect counterpoint, until Minho was almost breathless watching him.

This time it was different. This time Taemin was punishing himself and Minho didn’t even know why. It was true that Minho hadn’t been around very much lately, busy with filming and just life, but they all were busy. Even Taemin was busy, but somehow he had found something that was worth pushing himself this hard. More importantly, he’d chosen a ridiculous time when no one would miss him from the dorm. If Minho hadn’t gotten back from filming late, he wouldn’t even have noticed.

The song ended and Minho opened his mouth to say something, but another song took its place almost immediately and Minho let his head roll back for another three minutes and thirteen seconds. _You approached me with an unfamiliar face_ —Minho badly wanted Jonghyun to just shut up, even if it was a recording of his voice.

He watched Taemin dance, his feet landing hard where they should on every beat, shoulders twisting to make the mark. Minho watched him pop, sharper than any of the rest of them could ever hope to be, even Kibum at his best. His posture was rigid when the chorography didn’t require him to bend and flow. Worst, he didn’t even acknowledge Minho when he turned, eyes squeezed shut as though to avoid seeing something, and when he finally opened them, he was looking only at his own reflection again.

That section ended and Taemin turned again, back to where his audience would be if he had more people watching him than just Minho.

Taemin’s dancing had to have been granted to him by the gods. It was his outlet, always had been. It was the way he healed himself of everything that happened in the day, alone in rooms like this, sometimes in their manager’s room, sometimes on the roof of their apartment building. Wherever he had to go, he did. Something had changed, something that made Taemin’s dancing ugly.

It was still beautiful to watch, he was still a natural, still the best, if you asked Minho’s humble opinion. But for anyone who knew him, who saw his smile when he just danced because he could, what he was doing now was too raw and too controlled at the same time. It was the kind of dance that broke down in the heartbeats between steps, when Minho could see Taemin’s body shake with exhaustion that went deeper than however many hours he’d been standing here, dancing alone in this mirrored room.

Taemin hit the last mark and stumbled. Minho heard a low curse come from his lips and the first strains of _Lucifer_ hit the air. Minho tried to say something, but Jinki’s voice cut him off and Minho resigned himself to watching Taemin fight his way through another dance. He moved so quickly into the opening position that Minho had to wonder how many times he had danced to this playlist tonight.

Minho knew something in the way Taemin was dancing should have told him what was wrong, but all he could see was frustration, desperation. Taemin _needed_ something that dancing wasn’t giving him. He watched Taemin’s dance get sharper, too sharp, every second and he could almost predict what was going to happen next. The first break came on Onew’s – _trapped in a glass castle_ – and by the time Taemin was halfway through his next line – _I dance for you who will never be satisfied_ – he’d stopped, falling to his knees hard enough that the thud reverberated through the room.

Minho took his time standing and moving to the iPod dock, cutting his own voice short. Taemin was still on his knees, body curved in despair. The room was silent except for Taemin’s ragged breaths and Minho’s quiet footsteps. He put his hand on Taemin’s shoulder.

“Nothing I say will help, will it?”

Taemin shook his head, breath still too scarce to speak.

Minho knelt at Taemin’s side. He was surprised to see that the boy—he wasn’t a boy anymore, Minho shouldn’t call him that—was just a little taller than him like this. He put his arms around Taemin, letting him fall slightly to the side, resting his full weight on Minho’s shoulders.

_I seen a man_.


End file.
